covid-19 pandemic. But could it be different if governments got more involved in the process? An example from China shows how state reforms to bring online tools in education can remove, rather than widen, disparity, if done right.In a new working paper published by National Bureau of Economic Research, Nivola Bianchi of Northwestern University and his co-authors explore the outcomes of China’s 2004 reforms that connected its best school teachers to 100 million rural students through computer-aided learning.Before the reforms, rural schools in China lacked quality teachers, and the good ones in urban areas were reluctant to relocate.